Development of the Foil

To look back over the history of foil fencing one must first ask a simple question: what is a foil? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer because none of the old treatises that illustrate foils, as we understand the weapon today, define the term or identify when it began to be used. There is just a point in time - 1621 to be precise - when the modern French word fleuret first appears in print, not in a fencing treatise but in a popular encyclopedia. It mentions the behaviour to be adopted in a salle d'armes, including the need to avoid hits to the face, but this is a safety precaution in the days before masks rather than a set of rules governing foil play.

Some fencing historians believe that any buttoned weapon can be considered to be a foil, including practice rapiers, as would have been in use in the early 17th century, and practice small swords, which succeeded them; and that the origins of the foil lie in its use as a practice weapon for duelling.

But I believe that a buttoned weapon can only be called a foil when it is used under the artificial rules of foil fencing. And these rules were introduced some time during the 17th century, probably at the court of Louis XIV, when the small sword became a far more dangerous weapon than the long and cumbersome rapier. The conventions established to allow the skills of swordplay to be demonstrated in relative safety may not have been observed in 1621, but they must have been by 1670, when the first book to illustrate what is clearly a foil contest was published.

Curiously, the rules of foil play are not set out in a French treatise until 1696. The basic conventions have changed little over the centuries. Lest anyone think that the problem of defining the attack is a new phenomenon, the first rules made it clear that if both hits arrived on target, but one was considered to be a counter-attack, only the attack scored. Double hits did not count, but if one was on target and the other off, the valid hit alone scored. A hit made immediately after a disarm counted, but not one made after parrying with the unarmed hand. A competitor was not allowed to take the pommel in his palm and stretch out his forefinger along the handle, thereby gaining extra reach. Another fencing master warned against those who twist their bodies, turn their back to avoid being hit, or let their bodies fall so low on the lunge "that you would imagine they were paying homage to the adversary's toe".

By the early 19th century, when the mask had generally been accepted, a match was preceded by a demonstration of technique and precision known as tirer au mur, followed by the salute. It was expected that each fencer would announce a hit received in a loud voice. The first open competition for amateurs was held in Paris in 1893 and shortly afterwards the German Gymnastic Society in London began holding annual tournaments. With the inclusion of fencing as a sport in the first modern OlympicGames in 1896, regular events became firmly established.

For over 200 years the shape of the handle was a simple choice between French and Italian. It was not until the 20th century that a more physical style of fencing made it necessary to develop handles that gave a stronger grip. One of the first to have an orthopedic handle designed to his requirements was the Frenchman Edouard Gardère, who used it during the 1932 Olympics. Its popularity soon spread and with the introduction of electric foil a wide variety of pistol-type handles became available.

But it was not until 1955 that enough reliable equipment became available for the foil events at the world championships to be fenced electric for the first time. The first electric blades were about 65 g heavier than non-electric ones, which caused many foilists to give up the weapon in disgust at its lack of sensitivity. But the best fencers adjusted, as demonstrated by the Frenchman Christian D'Oriola, who won the gold medal at both the non-electric 1952 Olympics and the electric 1956 Games. In those early days, it was felt that referees would be so pressurised that they would not be able to work for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Early electric tips had a distinctive beehive shape with horizontal and vertical ridges, then in 1958 the vertical ridges were removed and in 1961 a flat tip with sharp edges was introduced. Seven years later the bevelled edge version that we know today became the standard shape, although its diameter has changed over the years.